Source: Tagesschau.de
...now has made it into German news, too. The article summarizes the scandal pretty well, although only starting in May (as far as we remember Ford started acting strangely a long time before that). For everybody Non-Canadian who might not know the background:
Ford, who is the mayor of the City of Toronto, supposedly
- used substances (incl a DUI charge in Miami)
- is an alcoholic
- has insulted various people with offensive language
- was driving drunk
- was reading and texting while driving
- has threatened that he would kill somebody
- and on and on
Apparently the law does not provide the possibility to fire him during his term, so the Toronto City Council removed some of the most important aspects of his power.
Many of the comments of the article draw comparisons to Italy's Berlusconi who is widely considered as the worst politician alive in the view of many Germans. Looks like he has found a worthy competitor...
I am surprised it has made the German news. It has been on the news here, but it is quite something for it to be news overseas.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of behaviour may be unusual for a big city Mayor but it is not that unusual. Google: Borderline Personality and check it out. The Psychologist Jonathan Kellerman wrote about some of the challenges of dealing with borderline people and the fact that this is something that's not easily fixable. Rob Ford has my sympathy. Those kind of structural demons are not fun to deal with.
ReplyDeleteDavid, this is obviously a very good point you are making here, as this man indeed seems to be sick. But still I don't think that Ford should govern a city like Toronto in the state he is in. I cannot really judge it from this distance, but I am sure that Toronto needs a mayor who focusses on the issues of the city 100%. And right now it looks rather like 0%, and even worse, nobody wants to work with him any more. Ford would do everybody (including himself) a favour if he stepped down and took care of his problems, but it appears as if his family and close environment are still 'covering' for him.
ReplyDeleteI find the whole thing tragic and that he doesn't seem to recognize that he needs help. It is also a little egomanical in a way and I think he feels he is impervious to the law of land and it doesn't apply to him. Personally if I was a citizen of Toronto I would not want him as my mayor in his current state and would hope that he would seek help for his mental health issues and addictions. I think a line does have to be drawn particularly when he is threatening misdeeds and has no impulse control.
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